The presidential candidate who is running against Washington and who has called President Obama a dangerous, naive, terrorist-appeasing socialist expressed pleasure that Obama’s Federal Emergency Management Agency granted the state’s latest request to expand FEMA’s major disaster declaration to include 119 counties eligible for wildfire assistance.

“Texas has experienced one of the worst wildfire seasons in recent memory,” Perry declared in a statement released by the governor’s (non-campaign) office. “This extension provides much-needed relief for counties whose first responders bravely fought the high winds and extreme heat day after day as devastating wildfires threatened their homes and communities.”

More than 3.9 million acres of Texas territory has been consumed by some 26,000 fires. The governor’s office estimates that state and local response costs have totaled more than $330 million.

FEMA’s original declaration, issued on July 1 after months of requests by Perry, covered wildfires between April 6 and May 3 in 45 counties. The new declaration extends the fire coverage period through August 29 and nearly triples the number of county’s covered.